When is an opening band at a show, not just time filler until the main act hits the stage? Is it when two relatively well known bands decide to hit the road together, either because their styles mesh or because they are polar opposites? Is it when you bought your ticket solely for the purpose of seeing just the opening act, since they are your under appreciated heroes? I saw Grouplove play at Phoenix two years ago on a whim; I liked but didn’t love them, and had a great time. What made the night special was the opening act PAPA. I had never heard such energy and fun coming from a (mostly) two-piece band. I picked up their record that night (on limited edition translucent red vinyl no less) and have been impatiently waiting for their return to Toronto.
The turnout at The Garrison on June 1, 2014 was modest so the band delayed getting on stage by thirty minutes. When they came out, the venue wasn’t packed but it was more full. Drummer and lead singer Darren Weiss had his kit front and center of the stage with bassist Danny Presant set up right next to him. Their backing band consisted of Jake on guitar and Ben Usen on the keys. Their debut album Tender Madness came out just last year and fittingly enough to open the show with the album’s intro entitled “Papa”. It is a swirling uprising of synths and frantic high-pitched strumming. Weiss came out wearing a jumpsuit that looking like it used to belong to a fighter pilot, except on the back PAPA was painted on. They then went straight into Let’s Make you Pregnant from their EP A Good Woman Is Hard To Find. Their blend of sexy surf music and dance rock is hard to describe in words. Weiss’ lyrics scream yearning for attention while also attracting all the ladies to fall madly in love with him. The song has a hurricane like intensity with a slinky backbeat. Instead of describing genres a more apt comparison would be a tumultuous relationship with so many highs and lows.
After a few songs Weiss realized that he was failing his mission. There were still some people inexplicably not dancing to some of the grooviest music being made. Literally mid song Weiss stopped everything, jumped into the crowd, then pulled some ladies who were sitting down against the wall into the crowd. Anyone that was left knew better then to stay sitting and joined too. When he got back on stage he proudly stated “Everyone say hello to the newest members of our audience” before launching right back into the song. PAPA loves ladies. PAPA loves it when said ladies dance to their music. Ladies you better do as PAPA wants, lest you want a song written about you and your evil ways!
These guys love to perform and make every show a special occasion. “This is our first time headlining in Ontario. If we get really big this could be a historic show, if not it will still be a fucking great night!” It is enthusiasm like that from Weiss, which makes them irresistible to love. Presant, who only sings back up on a few songs still put on a great performance. He looked like he stole a pair of James Brown’s shoes and was possessed by them, making him do little shimmies and buckling his knees. On sustained notes he would do some flourishes with his playing arm. He would either throw his fist in the air or let the music take him to his knees. I don’t think he wrote a single riff that didn’t travel all the way up and down the neck of his bass.
Since the band only has one album and one EP’s worth of material, they do as many new bands do, and broke out a cover. They took Pat Benatar’s classic Love Is A Battlefield and reworked it with Weiss’s much deeper voice along with more rock and less new wave synth. It is always impressive when a drummer sings. Normally they are relegated to back up vocals if they have the chops, but Weiss was a true showman, keeping intricate beats and leading the charge. Death From Above 1979 is the only other band that comes to mind where drummer takes the lead vocals all the time.
After the end of the particularly high-energy number, Put Me To Work, the crowd went nuts. The band just stood there and looked amazed back at the crowd. Weiss leisurely propped his foot on his kick drum and slowly tied his shoe. The crowd got even louder, which for a group of maybe 50 people, was very impressive. Presant leaned into the mic and coyly teased the audience “Oh you liked that one?”
They played an unnamed new song, which had a bass riff like Another Bites The Dust and Chic like guitar playing. It prompted a fan to ask when their next album would come out. Weiss laughed and claimed that Tender Madness only came out last year and they are still writing. Crowd favourite, Ain’t It So, made a large swath of the female audience members squeal with delight and during a break of the singing Weiss casually muttered into the mic “Ladies love this one” which made them get even louder. It is hard to resist Weiss’s deep baritone voice that can still hit the high notes with ease. His vocal range goes from serious to sensual in one octave.
Near the end of their set Weiss started to rant about his displeasure of encores. Everyone knows that the band leaves the stage, people cheer for five minutes then they come back out and play a few more songs to the people that didn’t try to bum rush the exit. They just asked everyone to make a shit ton of noise like it had been the best show of the year and they will play one more song. The faithful crowd rose to the occasion and clapped and screamed their feelings across like nobody’s business. They ended the night with I Am The Lion King the single that appears on both releases, a summer song if there ever has been one, this time with extra gospel-styled organ playing. Midway through the song Weiss got up from his kit and gave almost the whole crowd high fives while the band raged on. After the set they joined the equally sweaty crowd and made sure to talk to every single person that stuck around.
So as I was saying at the beginning, when does an opening band no longer become just filler? How about when you see a band you love and you have no idea who the opening band was but they end up changing your life? PAPA wasn’t an opening band back then, they were opening eyes and ears. If you don’t know them now, you will soon enough.
